


Klaine Advent 2012

by chasingkerouac



Category: Glee
Genre: Christmas, Christmas Fluff, Fluff, Gen, Holidays, Kid Fic, Warm and Fuzzy Feelings
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-12-01
Updated: 2012-12-01
Packaged: 2019-02-07 20:54:39
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 5,568
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12849327
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/chasingkerouac/pseuds/chasingkerouac
Summary: A collection of short works written for various words in the Klaine Advent 2012.  These all focus on nine-year-old Blaine and Kurt being kids and cute.





	1. Hideaway

**Author's Note:**

> Word: Hideaway

“Do you like Christmas lights?”

Blaine shifted his Batman backpack as he walked down street from the bus stop. It was a gift from Cooper before his big brother left for college because ‘fourth graders were almost the oldest kids in elementary school and needed to look cool’. Plus, he’d written ‘Blaine Anderson - Cooper Anderson’s little brother’ on the inside of it where his name was supposed to go so that everyone would know that he was Cooper’s brother. And everyone knew Cooper. 

It was like his brother was still at home when he wore it. 

“Of course I do,” Blaine answered, glancing over at Kurt as they walked. “Doesn’t everyone?”

Kurt shrugged. “Your house doesn’t have any,” he said. “I thought everyone put them up. Except for weird Mr. Figgins down the street. He said they’re devil lights.”

“Wouldn’t devil lights be red?” Blaine asked.

Kurt shrugged again. “I guess. But he’s weird. But you’re not, so I thought you’d put up lights. Are your parents weird?”

“My parents aren’t weird,” Blaine insisted. “Mom says the house is supposed to look ‘classy’,” he added, curling his fingers in air quotes as he kicked a small pushed up pile of snow with his boot. “Cooper tried to put an inflatable snowman in our yard at our old house. Mom got really mad,” Blaine laughed. “I miss Cooper.”

“Where is he?”

Blaine kicked another snow pile as they turned the corner to their street. “Ohio State,” he sighed. “He wants to go to LA, but I’m not supposed to tell Mom and Dad. I promised.”

“Well, isn’t he coming home for Christmas?” Kurt asked.

“I hope so,” Blaine said. “He makes Christmas fun. Since Mom wouldn’t let us put up real decorations at the old house, he’d decorate the tree house instead.”

They’d made it to Kurt’s house and stopped at the edge of the driveway. “Is that the house in your backyard?” he asked.

Blaine nodded. “They brought it when we moved, they just haven’t put it in one of the trees yet,” he explained. “But yeah. You should come over this weekend and I can show it to you!” he added, brightening at the idea of showing off his little private hideaway. “It has a red roof and Cooper hung up curtains and I put them back up when we came here, and it’s great.”

“We could play today,” Kurt suggested. “We didn’t get any homework today.”

“I can’t,” Blaine said, his shoulders slumping. “I have my piano lesson and then we’re going out to eat. Dad’s at work, so we’re gonna meet him somewhere after.”

“Okay, I’ll see you tomorrow then,” Kurt said, turning to head up his driveway and waving at Blaine.

“Bye,” Blaine called back, walking the twenty feet to the next house and heading up the driveway.

Kurt bit his lip and tried not to run into the house – Blaine could still see him if he was looking – but as soon as he was inside and his backpack was dropped by the door he yelled for his dad and struggled to untie his boots. 

Burt ducked his head around the doorjamb to find his normally tidy son whipping his coat and boots off. “What’s the rush, kiddo?”

“Dad!” Kurt exclaimed. “Dad! I need Christmas lights,” he said. “And construction paper. And scissors. And my craft box. Do we have extra ornaments?”

“Whoa,” Burt said. He crossed the hallway and grabbed Kurt’s coat by the hood, helping his son pull out his stuck second arm. “Take a breath. We put up decorations last weekend.” He motioned to the rest of the house, which had every free surface taken up by lights and garland and holiday figurines and more lights. “I’m pretty sure we’re single-handedly keeping Lima Utilities in business for December.”

“But Blaine doesn’t have decorations,” Kurt insisted. 

“Blaine’s the new kid next door, right?” Burt asked. “The one who’s in your class?”

Kurt nodded. “He’s really nice, Dad. But his parents don’t like having reindeer in the yard like we do. But Blaine does.”

“Okay,” Burt agreed. “So… what do you want to do about that?” he asked.

**

Blaine leaned his head against the window as his mom turned into the driveway and the garage door opened. Dinner was fine, and his piano teacher said that he’d obviously practiced a lot, which should’ve made him really proud. But all he could think about was that he’d rather have been at home playing with Kurt this afternoon, which was weird because they’d only just moved in a few weeks ago and he just met Kurt. They’d mostly just walked home from the bus together. But Kurt was easy to talk to and seemed really friendly – a lot friendlier than most of the kids at his other school. Kurt didn’t laugh at the bowties his mom made him wear. 

Maybe if he was really good for the rest of the night, his mom would let Kurt come over tomorrow after school instead of waiting until the weekend.

As his mom retreated into the kitchen to turn on the lights now that they were home, Blaine took his piano books back to the living room to place on the piano where they belonged. Lights in the back yard caught his eye through the curtains.

He pulled back the curtains a bit more, and his eyes went wide.

“Mom,” he said, running back into the kitchen to find a pair of shoes and his coat. “I forgot something in the tree house. I’ll be right back.”

“Pull on your coat, it’s freezing out there,” she insisted. She pulled a hat from a box by the door and pulled it down over Blaine’s hair as he zipped up his coat. “And don’t stay out there too long.”

“I know, I know,” he promised, pulling on his gloves and darting out the back door.

The backyard was covered in a thin layer of snow and his shoes crunched and he ran back to the tree house, that currently wasn’t in a tree but was in the back corner of their yard. He’d begged for them to bring the tree house with them when they moved, and though his dad had finally relented once Cooper joined in the begging process too, the house hadn’t made it into a new tree. 

The outside of the tree house was wrapped in garland around the roof, but it was the light shining from the windows that caught Blaine’s attention. He opened the door to the bright, colorful Christmas lights that his mother insisted were so tacky covering the ceiling and twinkling to their heart’s content. Cut outs of snowmen and snowflakes were taped onto the wall and a note was left on the table in the corner. 

_Everyone needs Christmas lights. So I put some up for you. If you hate them, you can take them down. But I thought they were pretty. I thought they might make you smile._

_The battery switch to turn them off is in the corner. Dad says that’s important to tell you._

_See you at the bus stop tomorrow morning!!_

_Kurt_

 

Blaine didn’t want to turn off the lights, but he knew his mom wouldn’t let him keep them on all night. Or let him sleep out here. It wasn’t that cold, but she wouldn’t let him. Even if the best place in the world was right here. So he turned off the lights, tucked the note into his pants pocket to keep it safe, and skipped right back up to his house. 

Sure, Blaine missed his brother, who gave him a Batman backpack to help him be cool and passed down a tree house with curtains, but Blaine now had a friend who decorated the tree house when Christmas lights just because they were pretty and thought Blaine needed them. And did it in secret. To surprise him. And wanted to come over and hang out and…

That might be even better than Cooper.


	2. Brick

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Word: Brick

“Is it perfect? Are they perfect? They have to be perfect!” Blaine insisted as his mother stacked the cookies in a tin.

“They’re perfect, sweetheart,” she assured him. “And cookies don’t have to be perfect, they just have to be delicious.”

“Is that why we bought them instead of trying to make them like Lola Grace does?” he asked. His grandmother was the best baker ever. 

His mother bit her lip as she placed a lid on the tin. “We don’t have to tell all the secrets we have,” she said, ruffling her fingers through his curls as he smiled. “And I’m sure that Kurt will like them even if we bought them. It was a very nice thing for him to do yesterday with your tree house. It’s important that we thank him.”

“I didn’t tell him I was gonna bring him cookies at all,” Blaine insisted. “Even when we were at lunch and talking about food and I didn’t say anything. He’s gonna be so surprised.” His eyes went wide suddenly. “What if he doesn’t like cookies? Mom, what if he doesn’t like cookies?”

“I’m sure he likes cookies,” she assured him. “And if he doesn’t, he’ll still like that you wanted to say thank you for decorating the tree house.” 

He didn’t say anything – just pursed his lips as he stared at the tin full of cookies. “Are you nervous?” his mom asked gently. He nodded. “I just… I want him to be my friend,” Blaine whispered.

“Oh, sweetheart,” she replied, leaning down to kiss the top of his head. “He wouldn’t have done something so nice if he wasn’t already your friend. You don’t have to worry about that. So why don’t you take these next door and say thank you,” she instructed, sliding the tin to the end of the counter and motioning towards his coat. “Dinner’s at 6:30, so be home before then. And don’t go anywhere other than Kurt’s without calling. Okay?”

“Okay,” Blaine murmured. 

**  
Blaine’s nerves were still jumping as he stood on Kurt’s porch, shifting the tin of cookies in his arms as he rang the doorbell. What if Kurt didn’t like cookies? What if Kurt didn’t like these cookies? What if Kurt meant to decorate someone else’s tree house and did Blaine’s by mistake? What if Kurt wasn’t home? What if –

His thoughts were cut off as the door opened and Burt Hummel filled up the open space. “Hello, Mr. Hummel,” Blaine said politely. His mother always said she was so proud when he was polite with adults. “Is Kurt here?”

“You must be Blaine,” Burt said, holding out his hand. “It’s nice to finally meet you.”

Blaine shifted the cookie tin once more and did his best to shake Mr. Hummel’s hand even with his gloves on. “It’s nice to meet you too, sir. I brought Kurt something to say thank you. He decorated my tree house last night and it was really nice of him. So I wanted to say thank you.”

“Yeah, he told me about that,” Burt chuckled. “C’mon in, kid, it’s too cold to be standing outside when you don’t have to. Kurt’s in the kitchen working on his math homework, I think. You wanna take off your coat and your boots right over there?” he suggested, pointing to wall pegs and a mat with a few shoes already collected on it.

Blaine peeled off his coat and shoes, alternating hands awkwardly with the cookie tin. It was only a matter of time before he dropped it and broke all of the cookies, but maybe he’d be able to keep it steady. Maybe he’d be able to keep it perfect. His tree house was perfect, so Kurt deserved a perfect thank you. His friend deserved a perfect thank you.

With all of his outerwear off, Blaine followed Mr. Hummel into the kitchen and found Kurt bent over their math homework and concentrating. “Hey, kiddo,” Mr. Hummel said, causing Kurt to finally look up. “You got a visitor.”

“Hi,” Blaine said, almost shyly. “I… I just wanted to say thank you. For decorating my tree house.”

Kurt’s eyes lit up and he dropped his pencil on the table. “Did you like it?” he asked excitedly. “You didn’t say anything at school, so I thought you didn’t like it, but it ended up really pretty.”

“I wanted the thank you to be a surprise,” Blaine explained, holding out the cookie tin. “Like the decorations were. I brought cookies to say thank you. I’m not supposed to tell you that my mom didn’t make them from scratch like Lola Grace does, but they’re still really good.”

“Can I eat a cookie now, Dad?” Kurt asked, looking back over his shoulder at Burt. “Please?”

“Sure, kiddo,” Burt said. “How about I pour you both some milk and you can have a couple since Blaine was nice to say thank you.”

“Great!” Kurt hastily tucked his math homework back into his folder and shoved it into his backpack. Homework could wait. “You can sit here,” he explained, pointing to the chair beside him at the table, as Burt retrieved two plates and poured two glasses of milk for the boys. “You can go now, Dad,” Kurt said.

“Uh huh,” Burt mumbled. “I’ll be at my desk doing some paperwork. You just yell if you need anything,” he said, giving Kurt a pat on the shoulder as he ducked out of the kitchen. 

Kurt yanked the tin into his lap and stuck out his tongue in concentration as he pulled the lid off. “Oh, wow, they’re in shaped with icing and everything,” he said, awed. “How many do you want? I think I want… a Santa hat and the brick chimney,” he decided, pulling out the cookies. 

Blaine grinned. “I’ll take whatever,” he said.

Kurt nodded and pulled out a snowman and another Santa hat for Blaine’s plate. “These look great. Even if your mom didn’t make them.”

“I wasn’t supposed to tell you that,” Blaine sighed as Kurt took a bite of his cookie.

“I won’t tell anyone,” Kurt promised. “Besides, friends tell each other things, right?”

Blaine thought his heart was going to leap right out of his chest. “Yeah… they do. So, we’re friends?” he asked quietly.

“Of course we are,” Kurt insisted, trying to talk around a mouth full of cookie. “I got you Christmas lights and you got me cookies. Of course we’re friends. Don’t you wanna be friends?” he asked.

“Definitely,” Blaine beamed. “I definitely want to be friends.”


	3. Sheets

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Word: Sheets

When you’re nine years old, sleepovers are a big deal. 

Blaine got the standard sigh from his parents when he’d rushed home from the Hummel house with an empty cookie tin and interrupted his mother’s ‘So how was your day, dear?’ to his father during dinner with ‘Can Kurt sleep over on Friday night, please please, I’ll clean up my room and everything’. It wasn’t his fault for interrupting, though! He was just excited. He’d blurted it out over cookies and Kurt got excited, which made Blaine excited, and then Mr. Hummel said it was okay but that he had to ask his parents first, so he was asking his parents just as soon as they were both in the same room and sitting down for dinner.

One clean room, one vacuumed living room, and two loads of clothes to help fold later, and it was Friday night. Friday night, with Kurt sitting on the couch next to him, grabbing another slice of pizza from the box on the coffee table as they watched Elf. “My friend Sam – he’s in Ms. Davis’ class this year, so I don’t think you’ve met him yet – he tried to eat cotton balls last year after watching this,” Kurt confided. “It was really funny.”

“Eww,” Blaine groaned. “Why would he do that?”

Kurt shrugged. “Cause he wanted to be like Buddy?” he guessed.

“I wanna be like Buddy,” Blaine admitted.

“Why?” Kurt asked, taking a large bite out of his slice. “All he wears is green and who would want to wear the same color over and over and over again?”

“Buddy’s tall,” Blaine said with a grin. 

Kurt tilted his head. “Blaine, you’re nine. None of us are tall.”

“Yeah, but I’m gonna be tall someday,” Blaine shot back. “My brother Cooper’s tall, so I’m gonna be tall too. Dad says I’ve just gotta wait my turn,” he sighed. 

“I’d rather have more fun clothes than be tall,” Kurt considered. “And not have to wear all green all the time. I mean, a little bit taller, yeah,” he continued. “But I’d be okay with, like, junior high tall. As long as I don’t have to wear only green.”

“The shirt you wore yesterday was green,” Blaine pointed out. “What about that?”

Kurt just rolled his eyes. “Yes, but I hadn’t worn green in a long time. I like green, just not every day.”

“Would you boys like some hot chocolate after your pizza?” Blaine’s mom asked as she crossed the room to retrieve the now empty pizza box. “We have the kind with the little marshmallows that Blainey likes so much.”

“Thank you, Mrs. Anderson,” Kurt said with a smile. “I’d like some.”

“You have such nice manners,” she replied. “I’ll get you both some.”

Kurt waited until Mrs. Anderson was out of the room before turning to Blaine and grinning. “You like the little marshmallows, Blainey?” he laughed.

Blaine scowled and felt himself sink back into the couch cushion. “She’s not supposed to call me that in front of other people,” he grumped. She’d called him that on a field trip last year and everyone in his class had called him ‘Blainey’ for months – including the teacher.

“My dad calls me kiddo all the time,” Kurt offered, reaching a hand out to pat Blaine’s arm. “But if you don’t like it, I’ll call you Blaine.”

“Really?” Blaine asked. “You’re not gonna call me Blainey? Why?”

“Cause you don’t like it,” Kurt said, as if it was the most obvious thing in the world. “And you’re my friend. But if you don’t like Blainey and you don’t like little marshmallows either, I want your marshmallows.”

“No, I totally like the marshmallows,” Blaine insisted, pretty certain that Kurt was the best friend he’d ever had.

**  
With the movie over, and dinner and hot chocolate finished, the boys were shooed up to Blaine’s room under the guise of bedtime. Even if Blaine was pretty sure his mom wasn’t going to actually make them go to bed. 

“So, Mom said you could use my sleeping bag,” Blaine explained as he pulled said sleeping bag out of his closet and dropped it next to his bed. “It used to be Cooper’s. That’s why it has his name on it,” he added, pointing to the embroidered name on the side.

“Where are you gonna sleep?” Kurt asked.

Blaine looked at him curiously. “In my bed?” he said, knowing as soon as he said it that the answer was probably wrong. And Kurt’s shaking head confirmed that. “Well, where am I supposed to sleep?”

“This is a sleepover, so no one sleeps in beds,” Kurt insisted. “We could build a fort and sleep in that, so we’re both sleeping in it,” he suggested. “And we could turn on flashlights and tell stories and your mom wouldn’t be able to find us to tell us to go to bed.”

That sounded a lot more fun than just sleeping in his bed. “Mom keeps some folding chairs in Cooper’s room. We can get those, and I can get sheets from the hall closet. And I think we have extra pillows.”

“From the couch,” Kurt continued. “Those would be perfect. This is gonna be the best,” he added with a grin.

**  
Twenty minutes later, and they pair of them had snuck up all of the couch cushions from the den, ‘borrowed’ six folding chairs from Cooper’s closet (along with all the pillows on his bed), and found a stack of clean bed sheets in the bottom of the hallway closet, which included the weird ones with the elastic to keep them on the bed. They didn’t work quite as well, but they were what was there.

It was a simple fort, but it covered all of the cushions and was tall enough for Blaine and Kurt to sit up in it without bumping their heads. Which would become a problem when he got to be as tall as Cooper and Buddy the elf, Blaine thought, but for right now it was perfect. They’d turned out all the lights in the room and crawled under the sheets with their pillows and one of the comforters from Blaine’s bed for actual sleeping. Blaine’s camping lantern was set in the middle of the fort and it gave them enough to light to see each other. “This is the best,” Blaine said as he stretched out on the pallet of sofa cushions.

“Told you,” Kurt chuckled. “It’s not a sleepover without a fort.” He laid his head back on the pillow and glanced up at the striped sheets creating the canopy. “I bet it’s fun to sleep out in your tree house when it’s not snowing.”

“You’ve gotta sleep out there in the summer,” Blaine insisted. “It’s really cool. At my old house, you could hear crickets and the wind and the leaves and it was so cool.”

“We’ll do that this summer,” Kurt decided. “Even if your tree house isn’t in a tree.”

“Awesome,” Blaine yawned. “Dad said he’d make us waffles in the morning. He makes really good waffles.”

“I like waffles,” Kurt agreed. “Thanks for inviting me over, Blaine. This is fun.”

“Well… we’re friends,” Blaine said quietly. “And I’m glad you came over too.”


	4. Carol

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kurt and Blaine are nine and friends. Today we hang out, drinking hot chocolate and discussing why they never, ever are drinking coffee. And someone might be getting a little crush.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Word: Carol

“I really like _Frosty the Snowman_ ,” Blaine said as his shoes kicked absently at the low brick wall he and Kurt were perched on. Blaine’s mom was inside the coffee shop chatting with a friend, and she’d let the boys sit outside as long as they didn’t leave the wall, which was conveniently situated in front of a large window she could see them from. There was a group of carolers performing outside, which made Kurt’s eyes go wide with interest as soon as they walked past, so it was a win for everyone. “It’s probably my favorite Christmas carol,” he continued, taking a sip of the hot chocolate his mom sent them both outside with.

Kurt took a sip of his hot chocolate and considered. “Frosty’s good,” he said. “But I think I like _Deck the Halls_ best.”

“You just like the fa la las,” Blaine laughed.

“Everyone likes the fa la las,” Kurt countered. “The fa la las are fun to sing.”

“Do you sing?” Blaine asked.

Kurt looked at him funny. “Everyone sings,” he replied. “Even my dad, but it’s mostly Springsteen and stuff.”

“My dad doesn’t,” Blaine explained. “I mean, he used to. At church on Christmas. But then Lola Grace told him that when he sang _Silent Night_ he made the baby Jesus cry,” he chuckled. “Cooper actually spit out cider from his nose when she said that at dinner. It was the best.”

“He spit cider?” Kurt asked, his eyes going wide.

“All over the green beans,” Blaine laughed. “Out his nose. But Dad really sounds bad singing, so he doesn’t any more.”

Kurt took another sip of his hot chocolate as the carolers shifted to _The Carol of the Bells_. “Do you sing bad?”

Blaine shrugged. “Cooper and I sang in the living room a lot before he went to college. Mom says I sound like Dean Martin, but I don’t know who that is. She smiled when she said it, so I think that’s good. Cooper wants to be Simon Le Bon, though. He dances a lot.”

“Dean Martin’s a Rat Pack guy,” Kurt explained. “He sang with Frank Sinatra and Sammy Davis.” He flushed a bit when Blaine just looked at him. “My mom liked old movies and they were in a bunch of them she liked.”

“Where’s your mom now?” Blaine asked. 

“She died,” Kurt said quietly, staring down at his cup. “Last year.”

“I’m sorry,” Blaine said. He didn’t know what to say to that. He’d never known anyone who’s mom died. Only grandparents. And pet dogs. And a lot of goldfish. “Your dad is really nice.”

“My dad’s the best,” Kurt said, lifting his head to watch the singers again. “Do you wanna come to the shop with me one afternoon?” he asked. “When school’s out, I usually go there during the day and Dad said you could come with if you wanted to.”

“What shop?” Blaine asked, thankful that he hadn’t hurt Kurt’s feelings by talking about his mom. He needed to be careful about things like that if he was going to be Kurt’s friend.

“My dad’s a mechanic,” Kurt explained. “He fixes cars. And it’s just a few blocks down the street. It’s not far. We could walk if it’s not snowing.”

“He fixes cars?” Blaine asked, lighting up. “That’s so cool! Do you think he’d let me see some of them?”

“Yeah,” Kurt beamed. “It’s pretty cool there. And Dad keeps hot chocolate packets in the coffee room for me. He likes coffee instead.”

“My mom and dad drink a lot of coffee,” Blaine agreed. “Mom says no one’s allowed to talk to her until she has her coffee. Cooper tried once. He got grounded after prom because of that. He wasn’t allowed to see his friends for like two weeks or something.”

“Coffee’s weird,” Kurt continued. “I mean, it doesn’t taste good. Why would anyone want to drink coffee instead of hot chocolate. This has chocolate in it,” he pointed out, as if it was the most obvious thing in the world. 

“I dunno,” Blaine agreed as he considered the question. “Adults are always ordering it. Maybe it’s what you’re supposed to drink when you’re an adult.”

“I’d rather have hot chocolate,” Kurt decided. “I’m never drinking coffee.”

“Maybe when we grow up, we’ll like coffee,” Blaine considered.

Kurt lifted an eyebrow as he glanced over his shoulder at Blaine. “Does Cooper like coffee?”

“Cooper likes Irish coffee,” Blaine said. “But I’m not supposed to tell Mom that.”

“You’re not supposed to tell a lot of things,” Kurt chuckled.

“Cooper says it a lot,” Blaine added with a grin. “And so does my mom. Apparently I keep secrets really well.”

“But you keep telling me these things you’re not supposed to tell,” Kurt pointed out.

That was a good point. “Yeah, well… are you gonna tell anyone?” Blaine asked. Kurt shook his head no. “Then that’s okay. Cause friends tell secrets to each other. And I know you won’t tell.”

“Then maybe I should tell you a secret, since you tell me all of your other secrets,” Kurt mused. 

“You can tell me anything and I won’t tell, never ever,” Blaine promised, smiling at Kurt. “Cross my heart.”

“Okay,” Kurt mumbled. “Um… I know all the songs to all the Disney movies,” he said. “Cause they’re fun and the songs are pretty… and I really like to sing.”

Blaine’s smile got even bigger. “Me too,” he said. “I like The Little Mermaid best of all.”

“I like Mulan best,” Kurt said. “You don’t think that’s weird? Cause boys don’t usually like that.”

“I like it,” Blaine said. “And I’m a boy. So if it’s weird, we’re both weird. So it’s okay.”

“So it’s okay,” Kurt agreed. He took another sip of his hot chocolate and tried to ignore the weird feeling in his stomach. Not a bad weird. A good weird. But only when Blaine smiled. Or when he laughed. Maybe that’s how you know someone’s your friend, he thought. But he hadn’t felt this way with Sam or with Mercedes or Tina and they were all his friends.

Maybe it’s only something you feel with a best friend. Maybe that meant that Blaine was his best friend. That made sense. 

“Do you think if we asked them to sing _Jingle Bells_ , they would?” Blaine asked, distracting Kurt from his thoughts. 

“Probably,” Kurt said. “I mean, everyone knows _Jingle Bells_.”

“Excuse me!” Blaine called out as the carolers were turning the pages to their next song. He raised his hand and waved at them, grinning as one of the older ladies saw him and waved back. “Could you please sing _Jingle Bells_? We really like _Jingle Bells_.”

“We have a request from the young gentleman,” she said lightly, glancing to her left and her right as the other singers flipped back a few pages. “I think we can do that.”

“Thank you!” Blaine replied brightly as the group jumped into a spritely rendition of the song. “See? Everyone knows _Jingle Bells_.”

“That’s what I said,” Kurt pointed out, reaching over to push Blaine’s shoulder. “You didn’t listen cause I said that first.”

“No you didn’t,” Blaine taunted, grinning. 

“Yes I did!” Kurt insisted. “You just weren’t listening!” He shoved Blaine again, and Blaine laughed. “You’re teasing me,” Kurt grumbled. 

“Yep,” Blaine laughed. “You’re fun to tease. Your nose gets red like Rudolph when you get mad.”

There was that funny, best friend feeling in Kurt’s stomach again. “Does not,” he insisted, even though he knew it was true. He didn’t have to let Blaine know he knew, though. 

“Does too,” Blaine countered. “But it’s not bad. But there are worse things.”

“Like what?” Kurt asked.

“You could smell like coffee,” Blaine teased again.

Kurt wrinkled his nose. “Ew. Who wants to smell like coffee?”

“See, at least you don’t smell like coffee,” Blaine pointed out. “I never want to smell like coffee.”

“Me neither,” Kurt insisted, tipping his cup back to get the last swallow of hot chocolate. He dropped the cup back down and glanced over his shoulder. He could see Mrs. Anderson still chatting with her friend at one of the tables. “Hey, since your mom’s still talking, do you think she’d buy us more hot chocolate? Mine’s empty.”

“Do you want the rest of mine?” Blaine offered. “You can have it if you want it. I don’t want any more.”

“Thanks,” Kurt beamed, switching cups with Blaine and pushing down those feelings again.

Best friend wobbly stomach feelings were going to be so weird to get used to.


	5. Ghost

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kurt and Blaine are nine and friends. And sometimes ghosts of Christmas past make us sad.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Word: Ghost

When Blaine was five, Cooper told him that ghosts came out at Christmas and if you were on Santa’s naughty list, the ghosts would get you. Blaine told him he was lying just to scare him and there weren’t any ghosts at Christmas, just Halloween. And in movies. And sometimes in old houses.

The more he thought about it, there really were a lot of places that ghosts were.

Cooper pointed out that there were stories about ghosts of Christmas present and past, and if they weren’t coming out at Christmas then why would they be named Christmas?

Big brothers sucked.

And then Blaine accidentally broke a vase that Mommy said was a wedding present because Cooper had been chasing him and it was all Cooper’s fault, but Mommy yelled and said he was going to be on Santa’s naughty list.

Which meant the ghosts would eat him, just like Cooper said.

It took an entire afternoon for his mother to figure out why Blaine ran screaming from the room to hide out in the tree house with every flashlight he could find. After finding out about the ghost story, and promising that she’d scolded Cooper for scaring him, she promised him it was all a lie. And that the only ghosts at Christmas were when people thought about loved ones who’d died. Like, how Daddy talks about missing Grandpa Greg. That’s all.

So when Blaine was at Kurt’s, helping Kurt decorate the small tree Mr. Hummel put up in Kurt’s room, he realized that lots of people had Christmas ghosts just like Grandpa Greg. Kurt’s ornaments had all been made with his mom. She’d liked making things, like Kurt does. Kurt’s really good at making things in art class, even if the teacher says he doesn’t have to put glitter on everything. Maybe things look better with glitter, Blaine thought, even though he didn’t say anything cause he didn’t want to get in trouble. And glitter made Kurt happy, so why shouldn’t he put glitter on everything?

All of these ornaments had glitter, but Kurt looked sad when he opened the box. He’d said he missed his mom and that she’d made all of these with him over a bunch of Christmases. 

So Blaine told him what his mom had told him – Kurt’s mom must be a Christmas ghost because Kurt loved her, so she must be around at Christmas. Just like Grandpa Greg. 

He thought Kurt might cry, cause that’s what people do when they miss someone. He didn’t think Kurt would throw his arms around him and hug him super tight. But that was okay. Blaine liked hugs. Hugs meant that things were okay. 

So he hugged Kurt back, even though he knew Kurt was sad, cause everything was going to be okay. And Mommy had always said that Blaine gave really good hugs, so maybe the really good hug would make everything okay.


End file.
